got a fish anyone? need advice please

[desperatehousewife]

Want to get DS (he's 3.5yrs) a couple of biggish fish for xmas (biggish, meaning not goldfish).

Anyone advise me on tanks/fish to get/likely cost/how much work is going to be involved for me!

thanks
dhw

Are you looking at tropicals?

depends what you want. go to a good pet shop and the staff will advise you!

It isn't as easy as it looks, it is very hard to keep the water at optimum levels, of ammonia, ph, nitrates etc. It can get quite costly, with treatments etc. They need cleaning out regularly, and toppping up with water. I find it quite hard to keep all the fish alive, don't know if that is normal.

Saying that we had a goldfish won at a fair when I was a child that lived for years, in a basic tank with no filter or anything.

I reckon the best thing to do is buy one of these tanks that has everything already in it, filter, heater etc.
Then all you do is add fish, but do get advice from the pet shop on what to do with the water before you put the fish in, as it will need treating first.
Also only certain types of fish can live happily together, if you mix too much they may end up eating each other!

I wouldn't get tropical fish, they seem like hard work.

Years back I bought my sister a shebunkin (big, patterned goldfish), and an ordinary rectangular tank.

She kept it in her flat for about 4 years I think, but the shock of being carted from maidenhead to derbyshire when they moved saw it off.

During the 4 years tho' they had no trouble with cleaning out the tank, no special water, filters or anything, and just ordinary goldfish food.

I'd think it's perfect for a 3.5 y.o.

Sorry can't spell. It's Shubunkin and looks like this

we have a tropical tank with some tetras and danios.
if you are going for tropical, the bigger the tank the better. our tank is 92 liter and that is the smallest DP would buy. most tank set-ups come with a filter, heater etc. the work involved isn't that bad. DP changes about a third of the water every 7-10 days, changes filterpads when they are needed to be replaced and feeds the fish every 2 days. you need to put in a chemical treatment to make tapwater safe (but i'm sure you need that for goldfish too).
also, if you buy your fish, try to find a good independent aquarium and fish place. pets at home in our area is awful, most fish had whitespot and some floating dead at the top. we've always bought our fish from the same place and never had any problems or diseases.

I definitely wouldn't do tropical - far too much work, as others have said. We have a small basic cold water tank with a filter and light which cost about £35 and we've put in a standard goldfish, a comet tail sarasa, three zebra danios and two leopard danios, two snails and a butterfly pleco to keep the algae down. I refresh the water every three to four weeks, so it's not too much work. The fish (other than the pleco) were very cheap. Some shops will say that danios are only for tropical, ie heated, tanks, but they are quite happy in an unheated tank so long as it is indoors and the room temperature is not too cold.
I think it will be a lovely present for your son, just don't expect any help with changing the water!

soothepoo, we have zebra danios too, they're lovely and very hardy little fish.

still think tropical isn't that much work. but then DP does all the water changes etc.

there are lots of nice cold water fish. Remember though it will be YOU that has to look after it!